Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Anthony Dawson
Not Peer Reviewed

Modern (Modern)

15Alarum within. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with attendants, meeting a bleeding [Sergeant].
Duncan
What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
20The newest state.
Malcolm
This is the sergeant
Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought
'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
Say to the King the knowledge of the broil
25As thou didst leave it.
Sergeant
Doubtful it stood,
As two spent swimmers that do cling together
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonald--
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
30The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him--from the Western Isles
Of kerns and galloglasses is supplied,
And Fortune, on his damnèd quarrel smiling,
Showed like a rebel's whore; but all's too weak,
35For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--
Disdaining Fortune with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valor's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave,
40Which ne'er shook hands nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th'chops,
And fixed his head upon our battlements.
Duncan
Oh, valiant cousin, worthy gentleman.
Sergeant
As whence the sun 'gins his reflection,
45Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,
So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come,
Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark,
No sooner Justice had, with valor armed,
Compelled these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
50But the Norwegian lord, surveying vantage,
With furbished arms and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.
Duncan
Dismayed not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
55Sergeant
Yes, as sparrows, eagles, or the hare, the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharged with double cracks,
So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe.
60Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds
Or memorize another Golgotha,
I cannot tell--
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
Duncan
So well thy words become thee as thy wounds:
65They smack of honor both. Go, get him surgeons.
[Exit Sergeant with attendants.]
Enter Ross and Angus.
Who comes here?
Malcolm
The worthy Thane of Ross.
Lennox
What a haste looks through his eyes!
70So should he look that seems to speak things strange.
God save the King.
Duncan
Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?
From Fife, great king, where the Norwegian banners
Flout the sky 75and fan our people cold.
Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,
The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict,
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapped in proof,
80Confronted him with self-comparisons,
Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit. And to conclude,
The victory fell on us--
Duncan
Great happiness!--
85Ross
That now
Sweno, the Norways' King, craves composition,
Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursèd at Saint Colm's Inch
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
90Duncan
No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest. Go, pronounce his present death
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
I'll see it done.
Duncan
What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.
95Exeunt.